During our 30+ years of service to the youth of Kenosha, membership in Boys & Girls Club programs has risen from modest beginnings to over 15,800 youth and teens impacted annually.
Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha was founded June of 1992. The first location was a drop in site in the Wilson Heights neighborhood. The Club initially rented space from the Memorial United Methodist Church. In December of 1992 the Boys & Girls Club’s Board of Directors was able to purchase the church and create a permanent home for BGCK at 3712 50th Street.
In 1998, Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha began expanding programs and opened four after school sites at Durkee, Bain, Roosevelt and Frank Elementary Schools. On January 1, 2000, the Club established programs in Lincoln Neighborhood Community Center. This included Lincoln Middle and Elementary Schools.
Four additional after school sites were added in September of 2000. They were funded through a grant by the Kenosha Unified School District 21st Century Learning Center. The new sites included McKinley Middle and Elementary School, Jefferson Elementary School, and Kenosha School of Language (KSOL) in collaboration with the Spanish Center. In 2004, Bain Elementary and KSOL merged together to form EBSOLA (Edward Bain School of Language). In 2008, Durkee and Lincoln Elementary merged into the Brass Community School.
The 2001 merger of Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha and CYC Sports impacted growth and created an all-encompassing network of services to youth. Youth sports and the youth employment program for at-risk youth was combined with the proven, effective Boys & Girls Club system. Over 8,000 youth were impacted.
On June 27, 2011, the Boys & Girls Club of Kenosha opened a brand new 80,000 square foot community center featuring a youth center, teen center, indoor soccer field, 4-court basketball field house, commercial kitchen, offices for community partners and administration offices to have all BGC staff under one roof. The Club celebrated it’s 25th Anniversary in 2017 while serving over 12,000 youth annually. The Club took over operations of Scamps Gymnastics & CYC Legendary All-Star Cheer in January of 2021, further increasing membership, growth and overall impact in our community.
In 2022, the Club partnered with Sylvan Learning Center to bring free tutoring to our youth members. Those youth have reported going up at least 1 level in reading.